Improvement in fire-escapes



a. B. De BOUCHERVILLE.

Fire-Escapes.

N0.147828 Patented Feb.24.1874.

Inventor:

Ja e/M if UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE BOUCHER DE BOUOHERVILLE, OF QUEBEC, CANADA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ESCAPES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No..147,828, dated February '24, 1874; application filed January 5, 1874.

- drawing, forming a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation.

A A is a hollow cylinder, of suiiicient length and diameter ,to allow a strong cord to wind five or SIX turns on the spindle QC, which cylinder is closed tight at A by a block, B, and stopped at A by. the block D fitting in the cylinder, andnnade t o revolve on' the journal of the spindle (l/Q' 'C O is a metal spindle passing through the blocks B and D, the lower part of which, G, forms a ring or handle, to which may beattached a strap or anything convenient to take hold of by the person who wishes to escape, such as the rope 2, Fig. 3, P representing a round stick of wood passed through and stopped by a knot of the cord; Q, a slip-knot, which may be fastened round the wrist; R R, knots to form stirrups of different lengths. N is a nut screwed on the spindle at (3. F F are two holes in the blocks B D, to pass the cord H H. J is a ratchetwheel, fixed, Figs. 1, 2, on the block I) within the cylinder; K, a spring-pawl, properly fixed on the cylinder, and acting on the ratchetwheel J; L, a catch or spring to raise the pawl. M is a screw to hold fast and prevent the spindle from revolving.

Having sufiiciently wound the cord H H around the spindle inside the cylinder by turning the block D, I attach the end H of the cord to some convenient article, and let the other end hang outside the window. Then, passing the slip-knot Q around my wrist, and grasping the handle P, and having put, one foot in the stirrups R or R, I let myself go down with a velocity regulated by the more or less winding of the cord 011 the spindle C (1, which the pawl prevents from uncoi'ling during the descent. If, during the descent, I find that the velocity is too great, I have only to pull a little on the rope H H ,within my reach,

to tighten the coils'aronnd the spindle, and so check the descent, thecontrol of the amount of friction of the coils remaining thus constantly under my immediate command.

Anyperson standing below may pull on the cord, if the person descending is unable to do it himself.

By making a knot, Z, onthe rope larger than the hole F, at some convenient distance from the landing-place, the sudden shooting down (if any accident should happen, as if the person had forgotten to wind the cord or to put down the pawl) of the fire life-preserver would stop at the knot, and so break the fall without injury to the person.

Having thus described my invention, and the mode of using it, what I claim as new, and desire" to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In connection with a strongcord, H H, the cylinder A A, the blocks B D, the spindle-G G, the holes F F, the ratchet-wheel J and its pawl K, with its catch L, or its equivalent, the nut N, all combined as and for the purpose described.

GEORGE BOUCHER DE BOUCIIERVILLE. 

